We hold a lot of tension in our upper traps (the muscles between our shoulders and neck 👇).

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It’s a stress reflex. A fight or flight response.

I notice it all the time. I’ll be reading some niggle email at work when I realise my shoulders are up at my ears.

We overuse them when we train, too (more on that soon).

Tight traps can lead to:

• 💥 Pain
• 🪨 Stiffness
• 🤯  Headaches
  

And they’re bloody hard to release with a roller or trigger ball.

Then I found the barbell trap smash:

1. Set a barbell on a rack at just below your shoulder height
2. Throw some plates on
3. Put one shoulder under the bar and slowly roll it over
4. Stand up taller to increase the pressure. And lower to decrease.
   

Here's a visual

A few sets of this (combined with a bar hang) 3x per week seems to solve 90% of my neck, shoulder and back grumble.